skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, July 14, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

9 dead, more than 30 injured in MA fire at Fall River senior living facility; West Virginia's health care system strained further under GOP bill; EV incentives will quickly expire. What happens next? NC university considers the future of AI in classrooms.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

FEMA's Texas flood response gets more criticism for unanswered calls. Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego-Garcia want guidance about a potential second deportation. And new polls show not as many Americans are worried about the state of democracy.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Americans brace for disproportionate impact of federal funding cuts to mental health, substance use programs, and new federal policies have farmers from Ohio to Minnesota struggling to grow healthier foods and create sustainable food production programs.

MD to Teach LGBTQ, Disability Rights History in Schools

play audio
Play

Monday, August 12, 2019   

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Maryland Department of Education says it is looking to add curriculum that explores the history of the LGBTQ rights and disability rights movements.

The move comes after a push by lawmakers earlier this month to expand the state's history studies to include lessons focused on LGBTQ Americans and other groups that have been historically underrepresented in the classroom.

State Delegate Eric Luedtke, a Democrat, organized a letter to the school system, which was signed by 34 other delegates and 13 state senators.

Luedtke says the Education Department told him on Friday it was committed to making the change.

"We're talking about the struggle for civil rights in the 20th century,” he states. “And we do a very good job in our classrooms of teaching that struggle in the context of civil rights for black and Latino Americans and for women. But we just happen to have left out these groups, as have many states."

Over the past eight years, California, New Jersey, Colorado and Oregon have expanded their education guidelines to include the history of the LGBTQ rights movement. Many other states are also considering including these lessons into their classrooms.

Maryland's Department of Education says it expects a draft framework for the expanded curriculum to be available in 2020.

California was the first state to include gay history lessons in its schools in 2011. Many critics at the time said the state's new guidelines were a way to indoctrinate students into gay culture. But Luedtke disagrees.

"Telling the truth isn't indoctrination,” he states. “It's telling the truth. You know, this is history, history is the story of the past and these are events from our past that are important to our history.

“I think people who believe it's indoctrination are coming from a place where they don't want these stories told for their own political reasons."

Luedtke says teaching LGBTQ rights history will help students become more accepting of gay classmates.

The Human Rights Campaign's 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report found that only 26% of gay youths surveyed around the country feel safe in their classrooms.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Research shows when federal funding for Medicaid decreases, states tend to cut optional benefits, such as home- and community-based services, first. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A Wisconsin nonprofit serving people with disabilities is waiting to hear if federal changes to Medicaid will affect their clients and caregivers…


play sound

By Ilana Newman for The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collabora…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Nearly 1,000 New Mexicans have already accessed a new online portal which provides transparency about how much the cost of prescriptions and medical p…


The Indiana Commission on Higher Education says almost 268,000 students enrolled in at least one funded Career and Technical Education course for the 2023-2024 school year. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Uncertainty about the current job market is influencing high school graduates' choices for a career. Parents are generally the go-to for guidance…

Social Issues

play sound

The mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania is voicing concerns about the state budget delay, warning it could affect the city's more than 58,000 residents…

The Feeding Texas network said despite federal cuts, the organization stands united in its commitment to fight hunger but food banks cannot fill the gap left by the cuts. (Studio Romantic/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 3.5 million Texans utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase food. The budget reconciliation bill recently signed …

Environment

play sound

Environmental advocates are urging Washington state lawmakers to require cargo ships to plug in while in port. The Port of Seattle will require all …

Environment

play sound

A new documentary looked at ways to reduce the human and environmental harms stemming from the mining of "critical minerals." Without minerals like c…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021